iancul

Saturday night I went to see and listen to Bonobo (UK, from Ninja Tune) and Silent Strike. I only found Silent Strike just a few hours before the show, thanks to Oana (thanks again :) ), a young talented artist. I’m sure gonna buy his album today, hope I still find it. Silent Strike was surely on par with Bonobo. Period.

Long story short, it was a great show, I’m glad to see this kind of events taking place more and more often (and Becker Brau Live seems to be a good location).
Here are some pics of the band, Simon Green aka Bonobo being the one with white shirt and guitar. They also had a cool drummer, made the girls go crazy :)

Listening to the beautiful soundtrack, made by Plaid, I would’ve liked to write about the sensations Tekkon Kinkreet gives you. But I can’t, and I really shouldn’t. Because Tekkon Kinkreet does what movies should do (at least in theory): it touches you. I really felt the movie gave me in the end a small part of what Shiro was talking about, “Anshin! Anshin!” - meaning peace of mind, happiness.

I highly recommend it to anyone who likes to “feel” while watching a movie. And even if the story will fail to touch you, the visuals will surely blow you away with their insanely detailed city scapes, streets, buildings, and with its wonderful colors.

There are also the wonderful main charachters, Shiro (meaning white), contrasting with his “aniki” (older brother, but not necessarily by blood), Kuro (meaning black), both full of life in thei own way, complex, completeing each other.

Pingmag writes about the visuals, Catsuka posts some nice hi-q screens, SuperHeroType interviews the director (non-japanese, if you can believe) and highly talented Audrey Kawasaki shows us scans from Tekkon Kinkreet Art Book, just pure eyecandy, if you needed any more proof that Japan is ages in front of everybody else when it comes to animation.

later edit:
Some time ago I was reading about Paprika and Tekkon, and reviews said that Satoshi Kon’s Paprika is better, making Tekkon look like something incomplete, with only great visuals, but little substance. How wrong they were… While Kon’s Paprika is beautiful, raising many questions about human’s psyche and dreams, Tekkon is way ahead, dealing with human emotions, and not in a rational way, like Paprika, but in a personal, introspective, i-feel-it kind of way.

Imagine Led Zeppelin’s Robert Plant and Jimmy Page combined with Queen’s sound (remeber Queen’s Bohemian choirs? - just listen to Muse’s Soldiers Poem) , and you might get a glimpse of what Muse is all about: true rock evolved. To say that Muse singing live is superb is an understatement. Matthew Bellamy is an extraordinary singer and guitarist (not to mention his piano skills), reminding of singers like Robert Plant or Ian Gillan, but also playing some wicked looking and sounding guitars, custom made, 7-stringed, or with other crazy tunings that made him sound like no other (read more about them here). Sometimes you’d almost think Jimi Hendrix has reincarnated. And of course, like most great frontmen, Matt’s stage performance, with his dynamic and energetic moves, is a real treat.

The show was great, the best I’ve seen (even considering Depeche Mode last year concert, which was also great, but even diehard fans have to admit that Dave and co are now quite some years after their peak in live performances). I knew Muse were good, I can’t say I was a real fan though, I just enjoyed their music. Not all of it, since it takes some time to digest it, to understand it and then to love it. Just like old 70’s rock, Muse’s complex sound won’t reveal its beauty that easily. At some times during the show I was thinking this music is way too elevated for normal “rock concerts”. Clear classical music influences, blues and jazz-like improvisations, mixed with pure adrenaline make their music something uncomparable. It is no wonder for me now why Muse won so many prizes for their live performances. The only minor regret was my brother’s, for not hearing his favourite song, Bliss.

I was very glad that tickets in the A section were sold out fast (and the other sections as well, except the B one), this proved enough that we want quality bands touring in our country as well, not just big, long-time players in the music industry (yup, the Stones). Many failed to buy tickets in the A section thinking “who listens to Muse in Romania?”. Well, A LOT of people, it seems, since many of the band’s well known singles were sung by the crowd as well, giving me an imense satisfaction and thrill (and also the regret I hadn’t learned them better myself - but I’ll be ready next time).

But enough talking, here are some photos to get the idea (made with my Nokia N73 - tinkered just a bit in Photoshop). I’ve also uploaded a video on youtube, but the sound isn’t very good, unfortunately.

More info about Muse here (Muchmusic), here and on Muse’s Wiki.

Very nice idea from Monoblock (don’t know if it’s a proposal or a sold project).
Later update: it is a sold project indeed.

(via Behance)